Istro-Romanian is a Romance language used in a few villages in the peninsula of Istria, on the northern part of the Adriatic Sea, in Croatia. It is spoken by people who call themselves Vlaşi or Rumâni / Rumâri, but are called Ćiribiri / Ćići by the local population and Istrian Vlachs by linguists.

The number of Istro-Romanian speakers is estimated to be only around 500 to 1000, causing the language to be listed as "seriously endangered" in the UNESCORed Book of Endangered Languages. Due to its very small number of speakers, living in about eight villages, most notably Žejane and Šušnjevica, there is no public education or press in Istro-Romanian, and its speakers are not even recognised as an official minority in Croatia - perhaps a double-edged testimony to the fact that the greater number of Istro-Romanian speakers were forced to leave Istria and nearby cities soon after the takeover of Istria after World War II by Yugoslavia, the parent country to present-day Croatia.

Their number was reduced over time due to assimilation: in the 1921Italian census there were 1,644 Istro-Romanian speakers in the area and in 1926Romanian scholar Sextil Puşcariu estimated their number to about 3,000.

Many villages have Romanian-style names such as Jeian, Buzet ("lips"), Katun ("hamlet"), Gradinje ("garden"), Letaj, Sucodru ("forest"), Costirceanu (a Romanian name). Some of these names are official, while some are used only by Istro-Romanian speakers.

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The language resembles standard Romanian, and traditional Romanian linguists consider it to be a Romanian dialect. Another view, that the language is closer to the extinct Dalmatian language than to Romanian, is disregarded by most linguists as the language shows some features that make it clearly Romanian.

One peculiarity of Istro-Romanian compared with Romanian dialects is the use of rhotacism (with the intervocalic /n/ becoming /r/, for instance lumină (meaning "light" in Romanian) becoming lumira). This is one of the reasons that some Romanian linguists think that Istro-Romanian evolved from the Romanian language spoken in the Apuseni or Maramureş area of Transylvania, which has some similar traits.

Some linguists believe that the Istro-Romanians migrated to their present region about 1000 years ago from Transylvania. Another theory - by no means the only other theory - is that they came from Serbia. Some loan words suggest that before coming to Istria, Istro-Romanians lived for a longer period of time in Northern Dalmatia. However, it is quite clear that Istro-Romanian split from Daco-Romanian later than the other Romanian dialects (Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian), and thus the Serbian theory loses some credibility.

The Transylvanian connection is emphasized by linguists, but more importantly, is alive in the memory of some of the Rumeri themselves who break themselves into two distinct groups - the cicci or cici of surrounding Mune and Žejane area and the vlahi of the Šušnjevica region. Interestingly enough, Iosif Popovici entitled his book Dialectele române din Istria (Halle, 1909) - that is, "The Dialects..." not "The Dialect..." - so indirectly he admitted there were (and still are?) several types of Istro-Romanian dialects in Istria.

Insofar as Romanian linguists themselves are concerned, the opinions are divided: Prof. Dr. Iosif Popovici (1876-1928), who had travelled extensively in Istria, endorsed the theory the Istro-Romanians were natives of Ţara Moţilor (Western Transylvania) who "descended" sometimes during the Middle Ages into Istria. ("Dialectele române din Istria", I, Halle a.d.S., 1914, p. 122 and following). This opinion was shared by Ovid Densuşianu (1873-1938), a Romanian folklorist, philologist, and poet who introduced trends of European modernism into Romanian literature, who did not admit that Istro-Romanians are native to Istria, where we find them today (or he still was finding them in the 1930s when he researched for his book Histoire de la langue roumaine, I, p. 337): "Un premier fait que nous devons mettre en evidence, c'est que l'istro-roumain n'a pu se développer à l'origine là où nous le trouvons aujourd'hui".

The first historical record of Istro-Romanians (not necessarily the "cici") dates back to 1329, when Serbian chronicles mention that a Vlach population was living in the area, although there was an earlier mention from the 12th century of a leader in Istria called Radul (that could be a Romanian name).

Pavle Ivić cited the hypothesis that a sizeable Roman population inhabited the Balkans from west to east across the former Yugoslavia.

There is no literary tradition; however, in 1905 Andrea Glavina, an Istro-Romanian who was educated in Romania, wrote Calendaru lu rumeri din Istrie ("The Calendar of the Romanians of Istria") was published, and also collections of folk tales and poems have been published since.

Prof. Winnifrith was one of the promotors of the above flag of the Aromanians, because it is based on the classical "Roman Fence".

Anyway, I have found the following excerpt from the scholar Petar Vlahovic

of the University of Belgrade, related to the actual "Old Vlachs" population in the Sanjak region (Raska area in central-west Serbia):

..."Ethnic Processes in the Raška Region and the Ethnic Identity of the MuslimsSource: The Serbian Questions in The Balkans, University of Belgrade, publisher - Faculty of Geography, Belgrade 1995.

In our regions, the term "sanjak" has been retained denoting only the Novi Pazar area, the Sjenica and Pljevlja districts of the old Raska province, the territory consisting of the former districts and today's municipalities of: Priboj, Nova Varoš, Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje, Prijepolje, Sjenica, Novi Pazar and Tutin (the former Štavica).

Under the provinces of Raška (Sanjak) we understand the part of south-western Serbia and north-eastern Montenegro, the area of approximately 7000 sq. km. in which the first medieval Serbian state was in the process of forming from the 12th century. This state also encompassed some of the neighbouring territories. At that time and much later, the Sanjak" ...encompassed the then great Rascia... the core of the first Serbian state which symbolised the wholeness of the Serbian race for a long time... even today in Hungary the Serbs are known under the name of Raci[4]." Due to its political position, this territory on which major roads on the Balkan peninsula crossed (the Dubrovnik-Kotor road, the so-called Bosnian road) was politically, strategically, and economically significant. Lordship over this territory was desired by the Bosnian lords (Tvrtko, Kosače) who wanted to govern this Serbian region. Through this province, i.e. along the so-called Bosnian road, passed the main body of the Turkish army in their conquest campaigns towards the north-west

The Sanjak of Novi Pazar is a highland region on the edge of the Dinaric mountain range where the civilisation streams permeated slowly, while the population remained and survived as the population of "...the Serbian blood, type, and language..." divided into "...two rather distinct elements: the Muslims on one side and the Orthodox Christians on the other. The former are called Turks and the latter Serbs....".

In the geographical sense, the Sanjak of Novi Pazar is divided by mountain ranges into three geographical wholes. The mountains of Jadovnik, Zlatar, and the rim of Javor single out as separate wholes the Prijepolje, Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje, Priboj, and Nova Varoš regions. On the other hand, there are the Sjenica plateau and Pester. A special zone is formed by the spur of Mt. Rogozna, which separates the Sanjak from Kosovo and Metohia. The greatest portion of the above mentioned area, apart from the three river valleys (especially the valleys of the Lim and Raška), lies at 800 to 900 metres above sea level, and in the east at more than 1000 metres above sea level. Considering it as a whole, the area belongs to the Dinaric region occupying its eastern part. Observing it from the surrounding mountains (Kopaonik, Zlatibor), the Sanjak gives the impression of a wide "corridor", the bottom of which is furrowed by parallel mountain ranges, from the north-west to south-east, with possibly the total width of 60 to 70 km and the length of approximately 150 km..[7]

Similar to this geographical division is the ethnic division of the population of the Sanjak. By its origin, the population can be classified into four large local communities. They are: the Old Vlach, Herzegovinian, Vasojević, and the Rašani in the broader sense of the word..[9]

The Old Vlachs constitute the portion of the population that represent a whole living southward from the Zlatibor mountain range, i.e. from Čigota and Murtenica to Mučanj, in the direction of Sjenica, Nova Varoš, and Prijepolje. It is true that the Old Vlachs at some point had a larger territory, from Studenica to Čajnice and Dabar, i.e. the mouth of the Lim river into the Drina river. However, traditionally, the people connect the Old Vlachs to Nova Varoš and its wider surrounding area. Even today, the Old Vlachs represent a specific goldsmith community in the broader sense of the word that, apart from some ethnopsychological features,.[10] was characteristic of the distinctive folk attire, which was also used for practical purposes by the population outside the Old Vlach ethnic region...."

Some historians (Mommsen et al.) believe that the serbian word "Raska" is a syncopated reduction of the word "Romanska", a clear reference to the Latin populations living there when the Slavs arrived. Bruno

Posted: Today at 12:23am

Here it is a medieval map of the Raska area (Rascia):

Posted: Today at 12:45am (Maria d.)

Thank you, Bruno.

The Aromanian language is beautiful and interesting.

The earliest known examples of written Aromanian are manuscripts of the Patriarch Fotius dating from around 860-870 AD, and manuscripts written by St. Naum of Ohrid at about the same time. During the late 18th century many books in Aromanian were published, all written in the Greek alphabet. Unfortunately many of the early works in Aromanian were burnt during wars between 1750-1788. In these wars the Turks destroyed the main Vlach city, Moscopolis and started a diaspora of the Vlachs.The first person to publish material in Aromanian in the Latin alphabet was probably Dr. Ioryi Constantin Roja at the beginning of the 19th century. During the 1980s a new Aromanian spelling system began to emerge and has been a dopted in most countries where Aromanian is spoken, with the exception of Greece and Romania, where the old spelling systems are still used. The new system, which eliminates all the accented letters, with the exception of ã, was proposed by four Aromanian writers and first published in 1985.

These linguistic maps are basically right but I have to make some corrections:

In the last map: The slavomacedonian language isn't the majority on those north macedonian areas,the big majority of the inhabitants there are Ionian and Pontian Greeks. A population of 60-80.000 slavophones can't fill such big territory. The Aromanians aren't only in Olympos area(yellow cycle) but eastern there is a big Aromanian community(Pindus mountains{where the three purple cycles are wrongly}).

Turkish speakers cannot be found near the borders but more west.

The albanian-speaking "cycles" are realy arvanitic-speaking, a diversification that Arvanites want to make independently to the real relation between the two languages.The arvanitic villages cannot be found in central Greece but only in Attica and Boiotia(the two cycles right of "arberia" and in Argolis and Corinthia (where Peloponnesus and mainland Greece meet eachother in that east peninsula of Peloponnesus. Neither we can find arvanitic villages in central Peloponnesus and souther(only ten villages in Messinia,the first of the three south peninsulas) but we can find a group of villages in the edge of the western peninsula.

In Epirus arvanitic speaking villages can be found near the sea in the area of Thesprotia but not many.

I can see that the Greeks of North Epirus(south Albania) are forgotten...

Posted: 30 October 2006 at 11:46am

Originally posted by Patrinos

These linguistic maps are basically right but I have to make some corrections:

In the last map: The slavomacedonian language isn't the majority on those north macedonian areas,the big majority of the inhabitants there are Ionian and Pontian Greeks. A population of 60-80.000 slavophones can't fill such big territory. The Aromanians aren't only in Olympos area(yellow cycle) but eastern there is a big Aromanian community(Pindus mountains{where the three purple cycles are wrongly}).

Turkish speakers cannot be found near the borders but more west.

The albanian-speaking "cycles" are realy arvanitic-speaking, a diversification that Arvanites want to make independently to the real relation between the two languages.The arvanitic villages cannot be found in central Greece but only in Attica and Boiotia(the two cycles right of "arberia" and in Argolis and Corinthia (where Peloponnesus and mainland Greece meet eachother in that east peninsula of Peloponnesus. Neither we can find arvanitic villages in central Peloponnesus and souther(only ten villages in Messinia,the first of the three south peninsulas) but we can find a group of villages in the edge of the western peninsula.

In Epirus arvanitic speaking villages can be found near the sea in the area of Thesprotia but not many.

I can see that the Greeks of North Epirus(south Albania) are forgotten...

Patrinos, not only that.............there is even no reference to the Italian minority in Istria(Slovenia/Croatia). I have sent (to the maps producers) an e-mail complaining about this (and other "mistakes", like no reference to the Aromanians in the Serbian Timok valley).

Unfortunately, Eurominority.org is a website owned by Slovenian nationalists (the "cover-up" managers are Breton/Macedonian/Sardinian/German), who were members of the communist party of the former Yugoslavia: they lack of impartiality.

Anyway, this is a problem that plagues -more or less- all the nationalities in Europe. Like with the following ethnic map of Greece, made by Albanian nationalists. Bruno

Friday, 3 November 2006

After 1812, when Russia annexed Bessarabia, many Romanians were deported/colonized in regions East of the Dnester River. During WW2, the Romanian government implemented a policy of finding and relocating them from the Soviet Union to the homeland, in the regions Romanian were active in. People were transported from as far as from the Kuban, Crimea or the region North of the Azov Sea.

Frequent mention has been made of the Moldavian Soviet Republic. It is not generally known that the lower Dniester is an almost purely Roumanian stream. The villages along its left bank, from Movilau down to Ovidiopol, opposite Akkerman, are as Moldavian as those on the Bessarabian bank. And this Moldavian peasantry stretches as far east as the Bug, beyond Elisavetgrad, and down to within a few miles of Odessa (see Draghicesco). This is due to a very early immigration of Roumanian shepherds and traders along the streams of the black-earth district east of the Dniester-so early that we find here some Roumanian place-names on the Reichersdorf map of 1541. Further extensive colonization took place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Polish princes of Podolia encouraging the creation of large farms by Moldavian boyars; and in the eighteenth century, Russian generals took back with them from their campaigns against the Turks, enormous numbers of Roumanian peasants. In 1739, Gen. Munnich carried back with him 100,000 Roumanian peasants, according to the memoirs of Trenck, his companion; and_ in 1792, another great immigration took place. As a result, it is reckoned that there are probably half a million Roumanian peasants in Russia east of the Dniester.

At the beginning, the Soviet government gave these Roumanians no more recognition than had the Imperial regime, under which, in 1897, 92% of the Roumanians in .the province of Cherson were reported illiterate, and 95,% of those in Podolia. Their hopes were powerfully raised by the Revolution of 1917. A Roumanian officer, attending the service for Roumanian soldiers and refugees in a church in Cherson, noticed some peasants on their knees, with the tears rolling down their cheeks. When he asked them the reason, one replied, in Roumanian: "Why shouldn't we cry, when we see what we never imagined or believed, when we hear church service in the Moldavian tongue?" As we have seen, delegates from across the Dniester came to the various congresses held in Kishineff during 1917; and several young "Transnistrians" attended the courses in Roumanian language and literature given by Roumanian university professors in Kishineff during the summers of 1917 and 1918. In the first days of the independent Ukraine, their prayers were heeded; two Moldavian representatives were elected to the Ukrainian Rada, and they were promised a large measure of autonomy. But the coup d'etat of Skoropadski, in April 1918, threw them both into prison; the Soviet Government took over the Ukraine, and nothing further was heard of these Moldavians till 1923. Russian refugees from Bessarabia organized a Bessarabian Revolutionary Committee, in conjunction with the Krupensky-Schmidt Bessarabian Delegation, and laid before the Soviets the tactical advantage which the creation of a Moldavian Republic opposite Bessarabia, would give them. The Soviets hesitated until after the breakdown of the Russian-Roumanian treaty negotiations in Vienna in the spring of 1924; but on June 26, there was organized in Odessa, in the Department of Education, section of village primary schools (perhaps the most creditable achievement of the Soviet ,Government), a Moldavian department, charged with the promotion of Moldavian culture in and out of school, by reading-rooms, cultural clubs, libraries and theatrical troupes. Scholarships for young Moldavians were established at Moscow; and a weekly paper "Plugarul Roshu (The Red Ploughman) "began appearing on July 1, 1924. In its seventh number (Aug. 21), it carried an appeal to all educated Moldavians in the new Republic, to help out the government in its educational work, and announced that the new Moldavian Department of Education had decided on opening preparatory and normal schools, as well as business and agricultural schools, and had begun publishing school-books in Roumanian. These were a First Reader and an Arithmetic; "Who Was Lenin?", " Lenin on Cooperation," "The Question of Small Nationalities in the Soviet Union," "The Land Laws,"' and "Moldavian Stories of Ion Creanga." It was also announced that "since the Moldavian dialect (i. e., of these peasants in Russia) is very poor in vocabulary, for which reason cultural progress is much hampered, it has been decided that in the Moldavian schools, reading-rooms and educational institutions,, the Roumanian language shall be used, with its richer vocabulary." The books for beginners are printed in the Latin letters in use in Roumania; those for educated Moldavians, in the Cyrillic type still usual in Russia.

This admirable program had immediate political results. By late August, "The Red Ploughman" noted that in 21 villages in the district of Odessa, Moldavian had become the only official language, and that judges, teachers, priests and town officials had been obliged to begin studying Moldavian, if they did not know it. Meetings demanding a political constitution were held during the summer; and early in September 1924, President Tchubar (Ciubar) of the Kharkoff Council of Commissioners of the People was able to state that the Moldavian Republic, with a population of between 300 and 400,000, would shortly be established. On Oct. 8, 1924, the Council authorized the creation, "within the bosom of the Soviet Socialist Ukrainian Republic, of an Autonomous Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, whose boundaries shall be: on the northwest, the boundary line of the village land of Grushky and Ocnitza, in Velico-Koshnitza, county of Tultchin, province of Podolia; then along the boundary of the sector of Kamenca, county of Tultchin, province of Podolia, leaving to one side the village of Bolgan and the market-town of Zagnidkoff, continuing through the villages of Pisarevca and Petrovca, sector of Crut, county of Balta, province of Odessa, then passing through the station of Borshti and the villages of Ghiderim, Posh*tzel and Ossipova. On the east, along the eastern boundary of the village of Mikhalovca, through the town of Ananieff, Valea-Gutzului, Antonovca, Elenovca, Novo-Alegandrovca, Sloboda Ploscoe, Gradinitza, the town of Tiraspol, Hutori Slobozia, then along the lake of Cuciurgan past Ploscoie to the village of Troitzca. Along the south and southwest, the boundary is that of the Federation of Soviet Socialist Republics." Since these territories included many Ukrainians and Russians, those two languages were made state languages along with Moldavian; and the large majority of the governing council have been non-Roumanians. The first president was Gregory Ivanievitch Borissoff (called Starai-Moshneagul), a former worker in the Bender railway shops, and an avowed Communist since 1901. His chief assistant was the Bulgarian lawyer, A. I. Stroyeff; the only Moldavians on the central committee were Buciushcan, former member of the Bessarabian Diet, and Miss Caterina Arbore, daughter of the well-known Bessarabian author Zamfir Arbore, and a leading Communist worker, expelled from Roumania in 1924. The first session of the Central Committee was held at Birzula on Nov. 9, 1924. Pres. Starai (Borissoff), speaking in Roumanian, closed with a reminder that they would not forget their brethren " who are groaning under the yoke of the boyars," and offered a final toast to the "Autonomous Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (R. A. S. S. M.), cradle of Soviet Roumania." Naturally, the Soviet authorities counted largely upon the disturbing influence on Bessarabia of this independent Roumanian republic just over the Dniester; they hold out the hope to discontented Bessarabians that they may enter it; and at the same time they are pleased to diminish somewhat the importance of the Ukraine, which has not always been a satisfactory member of the Soviet family. Nor were the Roumanians displeased to see the Russians emphasize the prevailingly Roumanian character of this region across the Dniester, seeing that the Russians had denied that Bessarabia could be considered Roumanian, but now admit it a fortiori.

The new Republic has not had smooth sailing. Business has been dead on that side of the Dniester also, and the drought of the last few years has affected it as severely as Bessarabia. That was the upshot of my repeated inquiries, when I was on the Dniester in the spring of 1925, and I find it continually confirmed. Indeed, I read of a memorial presented to the executive of the Ukrainian Soviet in March 1926, stating that nine-tenths of the peasants in the Moldavian Republic were seriously affected by the results of the drought, that infant mortality had reached 70%, and that supplies of grain and money were urgently needed-a similar situation to that in Bessarabia, which later however was being alleviated by the urgent relief measures (see p. 7) taken by the Roumanian Government, which distributed many thousand carloads of grain in Bessarabia. This was sold to the peasants at a low price, and the local banks and cooperatives were assigned large sums (over 500,000,000 lei) from Bucharest to be loaned to the peasants. Apparently Moscow and Odessa have not been as generous with the Moldavian Soviet Republic.

THE SURVIVAL OF ROUMANIAN

Rural schools in Bessarabia had a strange origin. The tolerant Moldavians had given asylum to the Russian heterodox Lipovans; and when Bessarabia became Russian, the orthodox clergy felt it was their duty to give proper religious instruction to the children of these schismatics. In 1835, the country clergy in Olonetzi were ordered to give free instruction in their homes in reading, the catechism, church prayers, etc.; and in 1837, Bishop Demetrius extended this provision to all Bessarabia. But the rural priests did not know Russian; and Demetrius issued his instructions in 1842 in Roumanian, stating that the priests must give "elementary instruction to boys in the Moldavian language, since the Moldavian villagers have need of teachers to teach them to read Moldavian, and for this reason they are giving their children for instruction to private lay teachers, who undoubtedly are unable to give the Moldavian youth instruction in that Christian disposition and spirit which is prescribed." Demetrius reports that in 1844 there were 326 such elementary schools, conducted by priests; in 1845, there were 346 instructors, and 5177 pupils. These voluntary schools struggled along till the days of Bishop Paul (1871), who dissolved all Roumanian schools. Governmental rural schools do not appear except sporadically till after the Crimean War; in 1855, with a population of a million, there were in Bessarabia 89 rural lay schools, with 2120 pupils. In 1911, with a population of two and a half millions, there were 1522 schools, with 72,000 boys in attendance, and 29,000 girls, a proportion of four children in school to every hundred inhabitants. The average school year was 160 days. In the country; 1/4 of the boys aged 7-14 went to school, and 1/8 of the girls. About 1/3 of the rural teachers were women; they were much better educated than the men teachers, of whom 63% had had only a grammar-school education.

In consequence of the Crimean War, Russia was forced by the Treaty of Paris to give back part of Southern Bessarabia to Moldavia (now part of Roumania). This was the counties of Cahul, Bolgrad and Ismail, and the mouths of the Danube, covering 18,288 square kilometers, with over 125,000 inhabitants, and 94 Orthodox churches. This territory remained Roumanian 22 years. Its population was largely foreign-Bulgarian, Gagaoutz, German; and its progress during those 22 years gives some indication of what may now be expected for Bessarabia as a whole. Just as in 1918, the Roumanians found few schools in proportion to the population; but when Russia reannexed this region in 1878, there were a classical lycee at Bolgrad, a gymnasium at Ismail, four city high schools and 121 country district schools, with some 8000 pupils altogether. And this influence lasted. Hanesh tells an anecdote illustrating this, in his "Scriitorii Basarabeni" (p. 31). In 1917 he met in Kishineff a Russian officer who spoke pure contemporary Roumanian, not the old-fashioned "Moldavian" current in Bessarabia; but on being asked where he came from in Roumania, the officer replied that he was a Bessarabian from Ismail, and that they all spoke such Roumanian there.

As a result of this system, the native Moldavian majority for a hundred years had no higher school destined to its education in its own language, and for fifty years not a school of any kind in which its language was even taught! Most extraordinary is the discussion in the Russian Duma in 1911, in connection with the proposal, in Article 16 of the bill dealing with primary education, that in localities where the population was Polish, Lithuanian, German, Tartar, Esthonian, Lett, Armenian, Georgian, etc., instruction in their mother tongue might be granted in government schools, in case of formal petition by the commune or by a group of parents. A Bessarabian Peasant Party deputy, Gulikin, not a Moldavian but a Russian (one of the schismatic Lipovans), moved to have the Moldavians included in the list of peoples with this privilege. Other Bessarabian deputies-Father Ghepetzky, the wealthy land-owner A. Krupensky, and Sholtuz-protested ; and another, the anti-Semite Purishkevitch, cried out: "If you give the Moldavians the right to have schools in their mother tongue, you should give it to the Kirghisses, the Buryats, the Ostyaks and other savage tribes." And by their votes the proposal was squelched.

Naturally, this system resulted not in acquisition of Russian by the Moldavians, but in their almost complete illiteracy in any language. Ac cording to the latest full Russian figures for Bessarabian literacy (1897), 82% of the male population was unable to read and write, and 96% of the women! In urban centers, the proportion was 57% and 78% respectively. Of all the nationalities in Bessarabia, the Germans had the highest percentage of persons able to read and write-63%; next came the Poles, with 55% ;the Jews, with 50% men, 24% women; the White Russians, 42% and 11% ;the (Great) Russians, 40% and 21% ; the Bulgarians, 31% and 6% ; the Turks (Gagautzi) 21% and 2% ; the Ukrainians, 15% and 3%-and the Moldavians, half the population of Bessarabia, 10.5% of the men, 1.7% of the women! A century of the Imperial Russian school administration can hardly have advanced these Moldavians at all.

The preservation of Roumanian as a literary language at all in Bessarabia is due primarily to the Church; and there too the Imperial Government took a hand, and endeavored to make the Church an instrument of Russification. That was all the easier, in that Russians and Roumanians both belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church; where Russia had to struggle with a different church, as in Poland, the task was far harder. And yet in Bessarabia their efforts with the Church met with similar unsuccess to that in the schools. Their school policy, instead of teaching the Roumanians Russian, landed them perhaps deeper in illiteracy; and the like church policy led to an estrangement between the Roumanian peasant and the Russian priest and church, resulting in a peasantry largely without religion, as elsewhere in Russia-one of the most striking phenomena brought to light by the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Government. As was well said by Ambassador Paleologue (Revue des Deux Mondes, 1922, 543), quoting Napoleon's "Un archeveque, c'est aussi un prefet de police": "the Russian clergy was a sort of gendarmerie, paralleling the military gendarmerie."

Of the Bessarabian peasants' eagerness for schooling and the printed word in their own tongue, I had ample evidence while in Bessarabia; it was delightful to see their pride in the new school buildings, constructed of the soft limestone, full of fossil shells, which underlies so much of the country. Even with a pitifully inadequate budget, the Roumanian government is putting up schools all over Bessarabia; everywhere the peasants help with contributions of labor, materials and money. I have already referred to the dedication of the new school-house at Tsariceanca-de-Sus (Akkerman) ; the Russian peasants of this village, of about 5000 people, had had no school in town under the Russians, but used the cramped facilities of the school in the lower town (Tsariceanca-de-Jos), a couple of miles away. A reverent and radiant crowd thronged the foundations and the surroundings of the school while Fr. Russul read the scriptures, delivered his eloquent speech, led the children's choir, prayed for the school's success, and blessed the corner-stone all in Roumanian first, and then in Russian. Then the priest, superintendent of schools and teachers, invited guests and village dignitaries, about 100 in number, adjourned to the building used as a temporary school. Long tables had been laid there, covered with everything proper to eat in Lent; it looked quite like a church supper at home, except for the abundance of wines, brandies and vodka. We began with caviare and an extraordinary variety of fish, fresh, salt, smoked, pickled, canned, cold with mayonnaise, and what not, with beans and other vegetables, white, whole wheat and rye bread, puddings of various sorts; as the assemblage thawed out, the priest called on the Prefect to make a speech; he was mercifully short and to the point, but others indulged the fondness of both Russian and Roumanian for oratory; underlying all, however, was faith in the school and education as the best solution for Bessarabia's troubles.

Moisiu, in his "Shtiri din Basarabia de astazi" (pp. 103-104), has characteristic anecdotes of fifteen years ago, when the Bessarabian peasantry were just awakening. "In several Bessarabian churches I have seen the faithful besieging the priest at the end of services, begging him with tears in their eyes, and some even on their knees, to let them take and read the number of the 'Luminatorul' (The Light, a religious periodical in Russian and Roumanian, which started in January 1908) from which he had read the sermon that morning. The priest usually gave it out to one of the leading men in town, and made out a list of those who should read it, in order; nobody could keep it more than two days. And these readings in Moldavian were genuine functions; crowds of all sorts of people thronged the house of the reader, and could never get enough of listening to the 'articles in our Moldavian.' . . . It will be hard for me to forget the joy of some Bessarabian peasants when I gave them a copy of the magazine 'Nashe Obedinenie' ('Our Union,' in Russian) of June 12, 1911, in which (surreptitiously, to all appearance) among the 32 pages were smuggled, on pp. 16-19, five articles written in Moldavian . . . . They read them and reread them time and again. They were written in the conversational language which they themselves used; and they all exclaimed: 'Now the Russian teacher says that the Lord doesn't allow Moldavian to be written down on paper, and look how nice it sounds here on paper in our language'"

Hanesh well says (p. 39) : "The unity of the Roumanian race in the trials of its early days, was maintained thanks to the shepherds. Passing with their flocks over the Carpathians and the Balkans and the broad Danubian plains, the Roumanians in the pastoral stage kept in constant touch with one another, spread and preserved the same language and the same ways. In time, part of the Roumanian race became farmers, part (after the founding of the Roumanian principalities) settled down as business men and officials, but part still remained shepherds, carrying on the same manner of life as their forebears of a thousand years before. Even today, these shepherds follow the same paths from the mountain to the plain, and the plain to the mountain, and continually cross the Baragan, the Dobrudja and Bessarabia. Everywhere in this latter province, if you ask people if they ever had Roumanian books under the Russians, they will tell you that besides church books, they had what the Transylvanian shepherds brought in." Arbors in his book on Bessarabia, and Moisiu in his, list the trashy but popular stuff the shepherds imported, and which the Russian police frequently confiscated. A young Bucovinan friend of mine, whose grandparents had a Bessarabian estate near Czernowitz, used in his boyhood to visit them there summers; and he was greatly impressed with the thoroughness with which the Russian customs inspectors searched for Roumanian books in his baggage. But there was laxness on other frontiers, even at Odessa; and a certain number of Roumanian books and periodicals straggled into Bessarabia even in periods of severe repression.

Sixty years after Bessarabia had become Russian, we have this striking testimony from Batiushkoff : "Up to 1871, when Bishop Paul came to the episcopal chair, in some monasteries and churches divine service was held in Roumanian. As soon as Bishop Paul had ascended the eparchial throne at Kishineff, he directed that in those monasteries where hitherto Roumanian had been used in the services, both Russian and Moldavian should eventually be used, and that schools should be opened in the monasteries, in which the young friars should learn Russian. With all these provisions, we have personal knowledge that in many monasteries divine service continues to be carried on in Moldavian, and that the only part sung in Russian is the `Miserere.' As a fitting excuse for this insubordination, some Moldavians have raised the objection that since the country people do not know any Russian at all, they consequently do not follow divine service held in that language. We can bear witness that not only in the remote interior of Bessarabia, where the people are solidly Moldavian, but in Kishineff itself we have come across Moldavian peasants who did not know one word of Russian. This fact cannot be explained by any separatist tendency, but merely and alone by the Moldavian peasant's inability to learn and to develop, as well as by his aloofness. However it may be, this ignorance of the language is not to be taken as a bar to the introduction of Russian into the church services. If we want to keep the Russian population from being Roumanized, if we want to save Bessarabia from being the object of Roumanophile ambitions and agitation, and if on the other hand we want to form an organic union with Russia, then we must hasten to utilize our schools for the purpose of changing (let us hope) half these Moldavian peasants into Russians." (pp. 172-3).

CIVIS ROMANUS SUM

Posted: 26 October 2006 at 10:30pm (Centurion)

Originally posted by rosior

After 1812, when Russia annexed Bessarabia, many Romanians were deported/colonized in regions East of the Dnester River. During WW2, the Romanian government implemented a policy of finding and relocating them from the Soviet Union to the homeland, in the regions Romanian were active in. People were transported from as far as from the Kuban, Crimea or the region North of the Azov Sea.

I want to include these excerpts about the presence of neolatin-speakng people in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union:

Moldovian population in the URSS republicsaccording to the 1989 census

That means that fifteen years ago there were 325000 Romanians in Ukraine west of the Dniester river. But in the preceding post (about "Roumanian survival") there was a reference to half a million Romanians at the end of the nineteenth century in the areas between the Dniester and the Bug rivers: what a reduction!

DECISION ON THE POLITICAL BUREAUX OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE [CC] OF THE UNION'S COMMUNIST PARTY OF BOLSHEVIKS [UCPB] ON THE EVACUATION FROM THE TERRITORY OF THE MOLDOVAN SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC [MSSR] OF KULAKS, FORMER LANDLORDS, BIG MERCHANTS, ACTIVE ACCOMPLICES OF GERMAN AND ROMANIAN POLICE AUTHORITIES, MEMBERS OF PRO-FASCIST PARTIES AND ORGANIZATIONS, WHITE GUARDS, MEMBERS OF ILLEGAL SECTS, AS WELL AS THE FAMILIES OF ALL THE ABOVE-MENTIONED CATEGORIES.

6 April 1949Strictly Confidential

To adopt the following resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR:

"The Council of Ministers of the USSR passes the resolution:

1.To adopt the proposal of the Bureaux of the CC of the UCPB on the Moldovan SSR, CC of CPB of Moldova and Council of Ministers of the Moldovan SSR on the evacuation from the territory of the Moldovan SSR of kulaks, former landlords, big merchants, active accomplices of German occupants, persons, collaborating with German and Romanian police authorities, members of pro-fascist parties and organizations, White Guards, members of illegal sects, as well as the families of all the above-mentioned categories.In total to evacuate 11,280 families, comprising 40,850 persons.

2. The evacuation of the persons of the mentioned categories to be carried out for good to Southern-Kazakhstan, Djambul and Aktiubinsk oblasts of the Kazakh SSR, as well as to Altai krai, Kurgan, Tiumen and Tomsk oblasts of the RSFSR [Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic], to apply to these persons the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of USSR of 26 November 1948 "On criminal responsibility for escape from places of compulsory and permanent residence of the persons evacuated to remote regions of the USSR during the Patriotic war".

3.To bind the Ministry of national security of the USSR (comrade Abakumov) to evacuate in June 1949 the persons of the categories named in paragraf 1 of the present resolution.The evacuation of kulaks, former landlords and big merchants, as well as their family members to be carry out according to the lists, approved by the Council of Ministers of the Moldovan SSR, the rest of persons - to be evacuated and their family members - upon a decision of the Special Meeting at the USSR Ministry of National Security [MNS].

4. To bind the Ministry of internal affairs of the USSR (comrade Kruglov) to ensure: the convoy and transportation of the deportees from the Moldovan SSR, a thorough guard of the deportees en route; administrative surveillance at settling places and appropriate registration of deportees, establishing a regime, that would exclude any possibility of escape; to employ the evacuated people in agricultural sector (colective farms and sovkhozes) and at factories. To organize special commandant's offices of the Ministry of internal affairs of the USSR in the settling places of the deportees.

5. To allow the deportees to take with themselves their personal values, household belongings (clothes, plates and dishes, small agricultural, handicraft and domestic inventory) and food reserves for each family up to 1,500 kg of total weight.The rest of property, vineyards, orchards and cattle of the deportees, to confiscate.The confiscated property of the deportees to use for covering the arrears of state liabilities. The remaining part of property after the arrears have been cleared off (dwelling and household buildings, production enterprises, agricultural and handicraft inventory, as well as vineyards, orchards and cattle) to pass free of charge to collective farms including them in the indivisible fund. The rest of property to pass to financial authorities for selling. Food-grains, forage and industrial crops to hand to the state....etc.....etc.....

These Romanians were sent to Siberia, Central Soviet Asia, etc... and only a minority has been able to return!

Only now the world is starting to take care (and have knowledge) of these

barbarian ways to deal with minorities...

Centurion

CIVIS ROMANUS SUM

Posted: 27 October 2006 at 12:09am

In order to understand the reduction of the Romanian population in Ukraine during the Soviet deportations, here it is a British map (made by the London Geographical Institute in 1935) clearly showing that some years before WWII there still were Romanians living in the Bug river area of Ukraine. But in reduced amount in comparison with maps of 1885, that have been previously posted in the "Historical maps of the Vlach regions" forum by the forumer Maria d.

Now in 2006 all the ethnic maps of Ukraine show no neolatin populations east of the Dniester river!

What a "barbarian" ethnic cleansing! Centurion

Posted: 28 October 2006 at 12:00am (Maria d.)

Originally posted by centurion

In order to understand the reduction of the Romanian population in Ukraine during the Soviet deportations, here it is a British map (made by the London Geographical Institute in 1935) clearly showing that some years before WWII there still were Romanians living in the Bug river area of Ukraine. But in reduced amount in comparison with maps of 1885, that have been previously posted in the "Historical maps of the Vlach regions" forum by the forumer Maria d.

Now in 2006 all the ethnic maps of Ukraine show no neolatin populations east of the Dniester river!

What a "barbarian" ethnic cleansing! Centurion

Congratulations, Centurion.

Your last posts about the neo-latin populations in Ukraine are wonderful! Of course I have remained a bit sad. The Soviet deportations are a shame in our contemporary european history, like the nazi holocaust.

Anyway, I too want to make my last contribution to this "Vlach" forum: here there are two actual maps from www.eurominority.org that show no Moldovan presence in Ukraine and only a small area in Greece populated by the Aromanians/Vlachs. Maria d.

Posted: 28 October 2006 at 12:35am (Centurion)

Nice maps, Maria.

I have been able to find the flag of the Aromanians/Vlachs:

And finally, I want to post a last interesting article (written by a Transnistrian Romanian) about the neolatin populations in Transnistria, the region between the Dniester and the Bug rivers:

ALL ABOUT TRANSNISTRIA (I) CHAPTER 1. “OUR COUNTRY OVER NISTRU”

The country of nobody

Geographically Transnistria (Pridnestrovie) is bounded by the 800 km bank of Nistru (Dniester), the 600 km bank of Bug and the 150 km of the Black Sea seacoast [1]. By Transnistrian Romanians we understand all people over Nistru, including Podolia,

Dnieper

and even Don; as well as from

Crimea

,

Caucasus

and

Siberia

.

The origins of the Romanian population on the East of Nistru are to be found in the symbiosis between tirageti (Getae from Tyras and Nistru), that is among the subjects of Burebista that ruled Olbia at the Bug’s mouths and the Romans, whose tracks can be found at every turning.

Since very old times, an obvious process of ethnographic and demographic interpenetration between Romanians and Ruthenians (Ukrainians) started. It continued along the centuries through the colonization and emigration of these two races. The Bolohoveni Knezes ruled the population on the course of

Sluchi

River

and the

Upper

Bug

River

. They were also the ones that preceded the Cossacks [2]. The Ukrainian historian V. B. Antonovichi wrote in 1885 that neither the right, nor the left of Nistru “belonged to the Halicien or other Russian princes” [3]. The body to body fight with the Slavic and Turanian tribes did not impede the establishment of the Moldovan state in the 14th century, the Baia principality joining other older Romanian localities, some of them spread as far as

Poland

and Volhinia [4]. Among the Bolohoveni voievodes, Alexander from Belti and Gleb of Ieremia were some of the most well-known. [5]. Yet, with debut of the 2nd millennium, this Romanianity was quite powerful, a fact proven by Scandinavian sources from the 9th century, pointing out the presence of “Blakumens” over Nistru, and by a Russian old chronicle mentioning the same “volohove” in the region [6]. The Romanian element experienced an excess of vitality and the phenomenon of Diaspora, starting with a Crachiun in 1287 in

Crimea

, followed by a “Hungarian Marioara” from Caffa in 1280, and in the 15th century - by the “Hungarians” Radu, Stanciu, Stoica in the same colony [7].

In May 25, 1455 the inhabitants of the White Fortress (Cetatea Alba), dissatisfied with the piratical actions of the Genoese from the Lerici castle on the Dnieper river mouths, took possession of the fortress and sent as captives the rulers of the White Fortress (who were Genovezi) to the hospodar Petru Aron [8].

Podolia of the Stefan the Great was viewed by

N. Iorga

as belonging to “actually nobody”, although it successively nominally belonged to the Tatar Knezes, the Big Principality of Lithuania and

Poland

. Imperceptibly a “new”

Moldova

of over Nistru with an increasing number of villages appeared. The Lerici fortress was occupied by

Moldova

during 1455-1475.

Romanian Cossacks

Stefan Bathory in a letter to the Sublime Porte shows that the territories between Bug and

Dnieper

were populated by a gathering of Polish Litvans, Moscals and Romanians. Cossacks originated from both Moscals and Romanians [8]. When saying Cossack, the Tartars meant vagabond. Their hetman Dumitru Vishnovietcki was descending from a sister of P. Rares. He claimed the chair of

Moldova

as well [9]. Following Ioan Voda the Terrible, the Cossacks attacked

Moldova

several times bringing with them the “Domnisori (young hospodars)” – true or fake sons over Nistru of the former hospodars of

Moldova

.

Ioan Nicoara Potcoava was the first hetman chosen by the entire Zaporojie Seche. He managed to occupy the throne of

Moldova

for a short time and the same luck was tried by other Romanians leading Cossacks: Alexandru and Constantin Potcoava [10], Petre Lungu, Petre Cazacu. The supreme rang of Cossacks hetman was hold by Transnistrian Romanians as well, some of which were Ion Grigore Loboda, Tihon Baibuza, Samoila Chisca, Ion Sircu, Opara, Trofim Volosanin (the Romanian), Ion Sarpila, Timotei Sgura, Dumitru Hunu and the legendary hero of Cossacks in the fight for independence of

Ukraine

- Danila Apostol. During the XVI – XVIII centuries, high ranks among Cossacks were held by the colonel Toader Lobada, (in Pereiaslav), Martin Puscariu (in

[11], while others like the general Ciorba and the colonels Mindra, Ghinea si Brinca entered the service of

Russia

[12].

The hospodars of

Moldova

dominated Transnistria

Following 1574, when Ion Voda Armeanul had mentioned about “our country of Moldova over Nistru”, following 1602, when the boyars [13] had referred to their relatives over Nistru, in 1681 Gh. Duca became “the despot of Moldova and Ukraine”, the same period during which documents started to be written in Romanian [16]. If till that year it was only the ethnical border that passed over Nistru, Duca brought the political border in the Transnistrian region, which had under its administration all the territories between the Carpathians and the

Dnieper

. After him

Ukraine

was ruled by Stefan Movila, Dimitrie Cantacuzino and Ene Draghici, Simeon Palis and Sandu Coltea also holding high positions [17].

As a consequence of Duca Voda’s governance (that established princely courts in Ticanova on Nistru and Nimirov on Bug)

Moldova

continued till 1765 to administer as well the left bank of Nistru [18].

Transnistria ’s important centers were Movilaul, Dubasari, Silibria, Iampol, Jaruga, Rascov, Vasilcau. In the new region formed by Russians at Ocheakov (at whose construction Petru Schiopu participated with 15000 day laborers and 3000 carts) the following boyars benefited of lands: Cantacuzino, Rosetti, Catargiu, Badiul, Sturza, Manuil, Macaresu, Cucu, Boian, Iliescu, Sabau, Cananau, Craciun, Pascal, Hagila, Sacara, Nicorita, Ghenadie, Dodon, Zurucila etc. The fortress was stirred by Mihai Viteazul in 1600 and appeared starting back then as one of the cities of

Moldova

). In a census from 1793, between Nistru and Bug there were 67 villages, 49 out of which were Romanian [19].

The Transnistrian church subordinated since the old times to the Romanian Church

The region was gravitating to

Moldova

from the church viewpoint as well, so that in 1657 the metropolitan bishop of Suceava ordained Layar Branovici as bishop in Cernigov [20]. In an act from Tighina as of 1769 the following specification was made with regards to the church subordination: “the mitropolit of Proilavei (Brailei), of Tamarovei (Reniului), of Hotin, of all the edges of Dunarii and Nistru and the entire

Ukraine

of the khan” [21]. Several times the region between Nistru and Bug was under the administration of Hushi bishopric. After 1792 (date at which Russians reached Nistru) from the church viewpoint, Transnistria belonged to Ecaterinoslav, in front of which was the Romanian Gavriil Banulescu-Bodoni, who after the annexation of Bassarabia joined under the same metropolitan seat Chisinau, Hotin and Oceacov “because the region of Oceacov, same as Bassarabia, was inhabited by Moldovans, Vlahs, Greek, Bulgarians and colonists of different nationalities, and very few Russians”. In 1837 the diocese of Cherson and Tauridia was established, the residence being in

Odessa

[22]. On the left bank of Nistru and in some places of Cherson steppe till Bug, there were locations with about 100 Moldovan Churches, while the whole South of Russia till about Kiev was in the stage of colonization only with two decades before Bessarabia’s capture.

In 1717 Mihai Racovita, the hospodar of Moldova, certified through an act an offering of estate made over Nistru to Apostol Leca [24].

ALL ABOUT TRANSNISTRIA (II)

CHAPTER II. THE CAPITAL OF A COUNTRY HAS THE NAME OF A ROMANIAN TRANSNISTREAN

In 1772 the Russians arrived at Bug, in 1792 at Nistru (Dniester) and in 1812 at Prut. At each of these stages Russia managed to obtain clauses regarding the right of Christian subjects left under Turkish suzerainty to move within its borders in order to colonize them. The Tzars did not want the South of Ukraine to remain unpopulated. So in 1739 Constantin and Dumitrascu Cantemir (sons of the one that governed in 1711 and left Moldova with 4000 Moldovans) led the Moldovan voluntaries in the fights with Turks and signed in September 5 a convention with Russia, obtaining that way the recognition of the country’s independence [25]. When the Russians withdrew, they took with them over 100.000 souls to be colonized.

Ecaterina the second would have moved us all to the East of Nistru

In 1769-1774 at Ecaterina the second court, projects “to transplant the population of both Principalities” were designed, while in 1792 it was reported that “two thirds of Moldova’s inhabitants” were placed between Nistru and Bug, with the intention to give autonomy, as well as A. I. Mavrocordat as a hospodar, to this “New Moldova” [26]. Offering exemption from military service and taxes, covering the travel expenses, ensuring autonomy, Romanian Churches, Romanian magistrates, schools in native language, book printing in Romanian and even seals with the head of ure ox, Ecaterina the second attracted Romanians from principalities and Transilvania and in 1783 managed to settle even over the river Bug 2000 families with 15 Romanian Churches [27].

Colonization was conducted even around Kiev, but also in the South of Russia, 25-40 families being brought in for colonization. The shepherds from Ardeal settled in Crimea, at Azov Sea till Caucas or in Dombas. The employees from the direction of the studies office, under the supervisionof A. Galopentia, during the ethnographic and folkloric researches made over Bug during 1942-1944, found in the town of Melitopol from the Azov Sea, a unique restaurant from the locality bearing the name Bucharest [28].

Having a preference for ancient names, Ecaterina the second built strong fortresses on the left bank of Nistru: Tiraspol in front of Tighina and Ovidipol in front of the White Fortress [29]. The biggest majority of Transdniestrians being Romanian, e.g. Erhani, Soltani, Busila, Codreanu, Munteanu, Brasoveanu, Ardeleanu, Esanu were the working hand at rising Odessa, but also local leaders. Banulescu was the one who sanctifiedthe foundation of Odessa city and contributed with the plan of organizing the city, while Manole was an architect at the governor’s office. Among the firms of Odessa there appeared the shoemakerStirbei, the sewer Sturza, the restaurant Catargi, while the suburb “Moldovanca” populated with Romanians became an entire city with a population of over 40.000 [30].

Romanians put the basis of the Russian culture

In 1796 in Dubasari or Movilau the first volume of poetry in Romanian was printed (original poetry and translations by I. Cantacuzino) [31]. In 1799 the Russian Pavel Sumacov noted that in Ovidiopol, Tiraspol, Grigoriopol, Dubasari, Malaiesti the majority of inhabitants were Moldovan [32].

The Romanian culture influenced both the culture of Ukrainians and Russians through the Romanians that found their meaning in Russia. Petru Movila became the metropolitan bishop of Kiev and the founder of the Russian Academy. The Romanian monk Paul Berinda is the founder of Russian lexicography. Milescu Spataru, besides the diplomatic and scientific activity, was the teacher of Petru the Great. Dimitrie Cantemir conducted a fruitful scientific activity, being as well the personal counselor of the king. Herascu (Hirastov) was a literary man and the first curator of the university from Moscow [33].

Dosoftei became the bishop of Azov, while Antonie (he crossed the Nistru with those over 100.000 Moldovans in 1739) - the metropolitan bishop of Chernigov and Bielgorod. Mihai Strilbitki from Moldova moved his typography to Dubasari, then to Movilau. Ioan Silviu Nistor in the history of “Romanians from Transdniestria” reminds of a Romanian Turcu, as the author of the Russian criminal code, of Mihail Voloshaninov as the organizer of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Grigore Voloseninov (the Romanian), also diplomat of Russia [34]. The Russian literature recognizes that the modern Russian poetry started with Antioh Cantemir. Through D. Cantemir, through Spataru Milescu (who in China at stopovers ordered the Cossacks to sing him “Danube, Danube”), through Leon Donici and others, Transdniestria obtained great cultural personalities [35].

In 1737 in Russia was born Nic Bantins Camenschi, follower of a Moldovan boyar, who became an honorary member of the Russian University and Academy [36]. Mihai Frunza, military genius of Russian Army, dead in 1925 at the age of 40, was the one whose name was given to the capital of Kirgizian SSR (Frunze) and to the military academy of USSR. He was born in Turkestan, as a result of colonization of Bessarabians and Transnistreans in 1878 in the region [37]. In 1854 was passing away Al. Strurza, philosopher of religions. N. Donici established in 1908 “The observer of physical astronomy” in Dubasarii Vechi [38]. The Russian Government refused the offer of Mihail Stroescu (the brother of the philanthropist V. Stroescu) to finance the inauguration of a cathedra of Romanian language at the University from Odessa.

The soviet academician L. S. Berg, stated: “The Moldovans that live in Moldova, Bessarabia and till the neighboring provinces, Podolia, Herson, and in a smaller number – in the Ecaterinoslav province, are Romanians”, while Take Ionescu with regards to Russia “is our natural enemy”” [39].

Also back then, according to official data there were 532.416 Romanians in Cherson and Podolia, 11.813 - in Ecaterinoslav, and 4.015 in Tauridia (Crimea). The real data though were estimated up to 1.200.000. Starting with the middle of the 14th century, there were over 400 purely Romanian villages in Transdniestria [41].

Alexis Nour (who identified in Transdniestria a locality “Nouroaia”) named the last villages of the compact Romanian region: towards East – Golodosi – at about the same parallel with Chernauti and Sherbani – at a parallel with Iasi, but at a distance of 200-250 km from Nistru [42]. He found in Kiev a lyceum with the name of a person who was maintaining it with huge donations “Pavel Galagan”. The ones from the families Funduclea enjoyed the same fame (a street from Kiev had the same name): Cordunean, Frunzetti, Macarescu, Bontas, Gredescu etc. [43]

Between 1909 and 1913 the hieromonk Inochentie lead in Transnistria (Pridnestrovie) at Balta a “movement” to reintroduce the Romanian language in church. Tens of thousands Moldovans made pilgrimages to Balta where they were addressed in Romanian and were given newspapers in their language. Protected by peasants (60 were killed), Inochentie was caught by Cossacks and imprisoned. Still, the authorities permitted the usage of Romanian language in churches [45].

The time during which we were offered Odessa

In 1914 Austria promised Romania “the entire Bessarabia with Odessa”, a promise which was later on renewed [46]. The presence of Transylvanian and Bucovinean volunteers in Ukraine had a benefic role in awaking the national consciousness of Romanians from the Tzarist Empire. The Romanian officers conducted lively cultural activities, attracting on their side students from Kiev. In Odessa there were 40.000 Romanian soldiers and officers from the Russian Army, which also had a big influence on the students in Odessa and together organized a congress in March 23, 1917. In April 18 in Odessa it took place a Romanian soldiers’ manifestation, where 12.000 Bessarabian and Transnistrian soldiers and students participated. In April 9 the newspaper “Moldovan word” published the program N.M P. (National Moldovan Party) which included, besides others, the national rights of Romanians over Nistru (Dniester), and in April 14 “the Association of Moldovan teachers from Bessarabia and over Nistru” was established [47]. The congress of Romanian teachers from Russia held in Odessa asked for the Transniestrians for divine service, schools, school inspectorate, bishopric at Dubasari, seminar at Odessa, all in the Romanian language.

,,Whom do you leave us to?…”

At the session of Ukrainian Rada, the deputy Ion Dumitrascu (Transnistrian) protested against the claims of Ukraine on Bessarabia [48]. He also, together with Ion Precul and Valeriu Cicate, lead “Desteptarea (Awakening) – a national society of Romanians from Ukraine” established in Kiev in November 26, 1917.

The Moldovan military congress, which took place in Chisinau at the beginning of November 1917, had on the agenda the point 8 “Moldovans over Nistru” and decided that Romanians over Nistru should have 10 mandates in the Sfatul Tarii [49]. Ukraine was asked to provide the Romanians over Nistru, from Caucas, from Siberia with the same rights which Bessarabia provided the ethnical minorities with. Chisinau was also claiming from Transnistrian administrations for notification of the number of school-age Romanian children [50]. At this congress the Transdnestrian peasant, Toma Jalba, asked “And with us, the ones that live on the other bank of Nistru, what will it happen, whom do you live us to?” [51].

In December 17 in Tiraspol it was organized the congress of Romanian trandniestrians, preceded by the preparation meetings held in Tiraspol in November 14 and Griogoriopol in November 21. There it was decided that every village would send 2 delegates. Held under the sign of Tricolor, the congress voted for the creation of national Romanian-speaking schools and the Latin alphabet; the introduction of Romanian language in churches, the legal procedures in the language of natives, Romanian doctors in the villages, Moldovans to do the service in the national Armed Forces and the election of eight representatives in the Ukrainian Rada. It has also been decided that newspapers would be published, estates would be divided and everything possible would be made to join Transnistria to Bessarabia. And as they did not know if Bessarabia would fight for that joining, the Transnistrian second lieutenantBulat warned that “if we let Ukraine to cut a branch today, another tomorrow, then our tree will transform into a tree-stump” [52]. The delegate of Ukrainian Rada wished in the end “Glory to the free Moldova”

The Romanian National Committee opened [52] Romanian schools, the Ukrainian Rada approved Romanian handbooks printed in Chisinau with Latin letters, the Council Zemstevei from Tiraspol started to introduce both in administration and legal systempersons that knew Romanian. Timotei Plesca si Toma Jalba had organized the Romanian Battalion, the soldiers receiving equipment, armament, barracks. The Ukrainian teaching staff was not forced to attend summer courses in Ukrainian, and 30 out of them attended courses in Chisinau. In Lunca village it was even played the “Piatra din casa” (The stone from the house) by V. Alecsandri. As long as the Bolshevik terror was present everywhere, in some places, e.g schools, even in 1919 they sang “Wake up Romanian”.

In January 9, 1918 Ion Precul, a Moldovan from the left of Nistru, in the position of deputy in the Ukrainian Rada, asked for equal rights for his compatriots [53]. There it was planned a general congress of Romanians from Ukraine in June 1918, but only in December 1919 at a National Meeting they claimed for their organization within a national state. In March 21, 1919, being followed by Bolshevik bands, the Romanians crossed Nistru and occupied for a short time Tiraspol and Razdelnaia.

At the peace conference in Paris, Romania did not claim for Transnistria and it remained of the domain of history the reasons why the Romanian brothers had not been abolished of slavery back then, being forced that way to confront another epoch of sufferings, which according to Domninte Timonu (born in Mahala near Dubasari, later on member of the Literary Fund of the Writers’ Union in Romania) was a more “harder and terrible” period [54]. In a speech made in Warsaw in November 1920, Take Ionescu said that “600.000 of Romanians live over the Eastern frontier” [55]. In April 1920, big peasant revolutions began. The revolters led by Tutunica – occupied Balta, the revoltspreading over the counties of Codirna and Ananev (county of which the “Big Russian encyclopedia” said that Moldovans were native inhabitants of). In 1922 under the leadership of Chirsule the revolt had broke out again. After being stifled in blood, the revolters were deported in masses. [56]

ALL ABOUT TRANSDNISTRIA (IV)

EPISODE IV: A

ROMANIAN

STATE

BETWEEN

RUSSIA

AND THE BIG

ROMANIA

The Ukrainian opposition at establishing of MASSR

Following the Declaration on

August 3, 1923

of the Soviet Government on nationalities and the free usage of the native language and as a result of the decisive tendencies of Ukrainization, in September 3 the delegates of Romanian villages met in Balta. The Ukrainians opposed the idea of an autonomous republic [57].

Still, in

October 12, 1924

the

Moldovan

Autonomous

Soviet

Socialist

Republic

is created [58] inside

Ukraine

, Balta being the capital, and since 1928 -

Tiraspol

, with the western border fixed declaratively on

Prut

. In Birzula in April 1925, the Pan-Moldovan congress fixed the borders and the Constitution recognized by Ukrainians in May 10.

With an area of 8.434 km2 (in 1934) and a population of 615.500 inhabitants out of which 60% Romanians, the new republic covered the rayons: Balta, Birzula, Camenca, Crut, Dubasari, Grigoriopol, Ananiev, Ocna Rosie, Ribnita, Slobozia, and

Tiraspol

. It had been created to stir the interest of the discontented people from Bassarabia. Vintila Bratianu thought with lucidity that “the establishment of a Romanian state between

Russia

and us would allow the development in the

USSR

of a Romanian national life” [59].

The

Tiraspol

in Latin alphabet

The inheritance left by Tzarism was scaring: illiterate population, no native language schools, national consciousness extinguished, most of the people having forgotten their origins and who they were, language in the state of gobbledygook language [60]. It is worth mentioning that in the MASSR the native language had been given its real name, as it results out of the pages of the weekly “Plugarul rosu” (The Red plough-man) of August 21, 1924 (which appeared since July 1): “it has been decided that in schools, as well as in places of Romanian culture, the Romanian language will be used” [61].

There were open Romanian schools (145 of gymnasium type and 18 – lyceum type), institutes (an agronomic, a pedagogical and a polytechnic), with an overall Romanian school population of 24.200 out of which 800 students. In 1933 the Latin alphabet was introduced. There appeared publications like: : ,,Plugarul rosu”, ,,Moldova Socialista”, ,,Comsomolistul Moldovei”, ,,Moldova literara”, ,,Octombrie”, ,,Scinteia leninista”. There was also a radio station in

Tiraspol

, the state choir “Doina”, a state theatre and a Romanian department at the

Theater

School

from

Odessa

, an institute of scientific researches. The young republic had a General Congress of Soviets, local Parliament, Government and even a president of the republic [62].

The return to the “Moldovan language” had been made with the gun

In 1937, though, the intellectuality of the MASS had been accused of making the class enemies’ game [63] and savagely exterminated – starting with the entire government of the republic and ending with the hearty Transnistrian writers, some of which were: Nicolae Smochina, Toader Malai, Nicolae Turcanu, Simion Dumitrescu, Petre Chioru, Mihai Andreescu, Mitrea Marcu, Alexandru Caftanachi, Iacob Doibani, Ion Corcin, Dumitru Batrincea, Nistor Cabac. The Stalinist atrocities had even arrived the killing of 167 men out the 168 from the

village

of

Toma Jalba

(Butor – Grigoriopol rayon) [64].

Because of forced collectivization and closing of churches (which ended in 1938) a real exodus over Nistru (

Dniester

) took place. It was so intense, that a camp for Transnistrian refuges was created. Also, the number of intellectuals originating from over Nistru was so big, that in Chisinau, Cluj and Iasi appeared their newspapers: “Tribuna romanilor” [65] lead by St. Bulat, “Transnistria” edited by Ilia Zaftur, and “Moldova Noua” edited by N. Smochina. The Russian frontier guards were shooting with no mercy the ones which they found crossing Nistru river. Such events were usual, but in

February 23, 1932

a real massacre took place, as 40 men, women and children were killed. This massacre became a subject of discussion in Parliament and the internal and international media.

Before

June 28, 1940

and the following days they talked about the reunion of the territories between Bug and Nistru with the MASSR. The RATAU agency was informing from Balta about the meeting dedicated to supporting “the meeting of the Bassarabian people with the Transnistrian people”. Echoes of the intention of the CC of CP from the USSR as of June 11, 1940 could be found on the pages of Socialist Moldova as of July 13, 1940: “with big joy we found out that the Soviet of People’s Commissars from CC of the Union CP have supported the demand of Moldova’s organizers and have proposed the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to support the request of Moldova’s organizers to bring together the inhabitants of Bassarabia with the inhabitants of MASSR and to organize the MSS Confederative Republic”.

Kremlin ordered the data gathering for making a decision as regards the territorial-administrative structure of MSSR. Such a report dated July 15, 1940 and signed by A. Scerbacov, considering the ethnical, historical, economic aspects, proposes the surrendering out of Bassarabian rayons - only the Hotin (which together with Cernauti were going to belong to Ukraine), and out of MASSR – to surrender to Ukraine only the rayons Balta and Pesceansc. The future

, only Hotin, Cetatea Alba and Chilia, and from the east of Nistru – to surrender only the rayons Codilna, Balta and Pesciana [68].

The tearing of Transnistria

Kiev, through the president of the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine, M. Greciuha, required in July 22 that to Ukraine is annexed, besides Northern Bucovina, Hotin, Akkermann, Chilia and Ismail, Bolgrad, other eight rayons of the MASSR (Codima, Balta, Pesciana, Ananiev, Valea Hotului, Ocna Rosie, Cerneansc, Kotovsk)[69]. Although as a result of the analysis of the Ukraine’s and MASSR’s proposals, A. Gorkin, secretary of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet proposed to G. Malenkov, secretary of CC of CPSU to adopt the MSSR’s version [70] , in August 1940 the Supreme Soviet had adopted the law of establishing MSSR in the version proposed by Ukraine [71].

Between August 19, 1941 and January 29, 1944, Romania temporary administered “Transnistria”, which was stretching between Nistru (Dniester) and Bug till the Dnieper bank, and in the North till the Niomjii and Rov’s waters. The territory with an area of 44.000 km2 and a population of 1,2 mln inhabitants was divided into 13 counties: Ananiev, Balta, Berzovca, Dubasari, Golta, Jugastru, Movilau, Oceacov, Odessa, Ovidiopol, Ribnita, Tiraspol, Tulcin. In connection with the opening of schools in 1941, the mayors had to immediately consult the local communities concerning the language of teaching (Russian or Moldovan) [75].

Keeping the old division in 64 rayons, out of those 1.623 public servants, only 398 originated from Romania. From those over 1.000 churches destroyed by communists, in 1943 only 76 were not yet repaired. Besides the 219 local priests, there were 250 country priests that were officiating holy services. There had been organized courses for 800 Romanian teachers from Transnistria. Publications like “Transnistria”, “Glasul Nistrului”, “Bugul”, “Gazeta Odessei”, “Tara Bugului”, “Molva” appeared. In Tiraspol the Romanian lyceum “Duca Voda” was established, and cinemas in Tiraspol, Ananev and Odessa. Film representations took place in the villages of Transnistria [76]. In Hirjau village there were repatriated Romanians from Kuban (504 families of over Bug have been repatriated between Prut and Bug at the beginning of the action) [77]. According to the gypsy baron Coca from Sintesti – Ilfov, on the bank of Bug it was established a kind of camp which amount 2.600 gypsies [78].

In 1944, at the same time with the advancement of the front, the biggest part of Transnistria was incorporated in the Ukrainian SSR, while the counties Camenca, Ribnita, Dubasari, Grigoriopol, Tiraspol, Slobozia – within Moldovan RSS, a situation which did not change till today.

An extreme-eastern Romania

In 1966 R. Udlear specified that 240 localities researched within the Moldovan Linguistic Atlas were situated in Ukraine (Transcarpatia, Cernauti, Odessa, Nicolaev, Kirovograd, Dniepropetrovsk, Zaporojie, Donetk, Lugansk), in the ASSR of Abhazia, in Khirghizia. Also, there were non-cartographic materials for Omsk and Primorsk. V. Buescu brings new data about the Romanian Diaspora over Ural. In the region of Orenburg and Turgai there exist purely Romanian villages. The village Berdianski is inhabited by Bessarabians that were first colonized in Simferopol. In the village Abiarski he met families with the name Septechita (a name specifically of Moldovan origins). In the region Samarkand there is an exclusively Moldovan village. The village Orheievka from Semipalatinsk was inhabited by colonies from Orhei (a Moldovan rayon that exist today in Republic of Moldova). Romanian villages can also be found around Omsk and Akmolinsk and in the Tansk region. Around the village Irkutsk there lived Romanians, one of their villages being Ceremskov. Near Vladivostok on the Usuri River there exist villages like: Teiul, Zimbreni, Bogatirca, Kisinovka, Balcinesti, Dunai, Basarabia Noua, Loganesti with about 30.000 Moldovans (in 1968). On Amur, near Habarovsk, exist villages like: Inul, Aur, Dunarea. In Manciuria before the war there were 20.000 Romanians. There have been spotted Romanian fishermen from Primorsk which asked for asylum in Japan [79].

Among the numerous waves of deportations, emigrations, colonization of Romanians to the east, an important role was played by the displacement in Siberia and Kazastan between 1906-1914 of 60.000 Bessarabians and the creation of a true extreme-eastern Romania [80].

How many would die for the tricolor? She did!

In Ukraine, at the census made in 1989, the east of Nistru was inhabited by Romanians from the region Odessa, which also covered the south of Bessarabia (149.534), Nikolaev (16.673), Kirovograd (10.694) and other regions (73.128) [81]. In 1992 in Odessa there existed a Romanian Cultural Society “Luceafarul”. It edited a weekly with the same name, lead by Vadim Bacinschi. Maria Margarit from Ananiev said that this weekly was a relief for her pain and that “the changes the names of our villages have been subject to hurt” and talked about “our ancestral existence on these territories” [82].

The Russian interests in the region, whose expression is the conflict initiated in 1992 and the centrifugal tendencies present till today, impede the access to the national life, at least for the Trandniestrian Romanians from the rayons of Moldova. If in the beginning 26.000 pupils from Transnistria asked for Latin alphabet, as a result of Russophones pressures, there were left only the schools no. 20 from Tiraspol (about which T. Tabunshchic, deputy president of the society “Transnistria” [83] said that the number of pupils grew from 30 to 700), no. 4, 17, 18, 19 from Bender (Tighina) and no. 12 from Ribnita [84]. In the entire Transnistria, the Moldovans hold 40% of the population (Russians and Ukrainians hold only 22, and respectively 28%); in Tiraspol where in 1940 they had 65%, in 1989 they were hardly holding 12% [86].

In Cocieri (the Transnistrian village which gave us the prose writer and the stage-manager Iovita Vlad and the academician I. Capiton Lupol), the teacher Maria Cherasim Isaicul during the conflict was leaving the school having the tricolor with her. One night she had been killed and thrown into a well [85]. Lucky the children taught by her. Pity on us, who allow to some Romanian analysts, (not only Smirnov and the 14th Army), to state categorically that we do not have interests in Transnistria and it had never belonged to Romania.

C. Coposu would have probably said about these Romanians that “our territorial integrity till the Eastern frontiers of the nation is a sacred obligation, like the 11th commandment of the Romanian Decalogue”.

The authorities of the self-proclaimed Transnistrian Moldovan republic of today, besides the rayons from the east of Nistru, also hold control over Tighina city (which is in Bessarabia). In 1992, after the army of Moldova entered Tiraspol, they received an order from Snegur to withdraw. The soldiers were grieved. Chisinau is justified to reestablish the constitutional order in the region, but it had and still has some hesitations that are at least suspicious.

***

I hope, my dear reader, you understood that we have some interests over Nistru, although it is very probable you are the type of Romanian who revolts that the Americans do not know about our Myoritic space, but which allow with serenity to be held in obscurity by a school which had not offered the elementary knowledge about our brothers from Transnistria, Transcarpatia, Pocutia, Northern Bucovina, Northern Bessarabia, Herta, Southern Basarabia, Cadrilater, the Serbian and Bulgarian Timocul, the Western Banat, the Eastern Ungaria, about our Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Istro-Romanian brothers. Americans are some superficial bastards. As a good Romanian, look for making green Romanians out of some Hungarians and do not worry about those 12 million of Romanians outside Romania which do not have access to their native language. Don’t spoil your heart and better switch to the sports page.